After his September TKO win over Paulo Costa, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya had a message for his next potential opponent, “I already DMd Jared Cannonier, he’s a hell of a dude, I love his energy, he’s a beautiful, beautiful man and I said, ‘you destroy Robert Whittaker and you’re next.’ He’s the one I want to fight next. He deserves it. If he beats Robert Whittaker handily and he dominates him, he’s next.”
Whittaker and Cannonier faced off on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 254. The former middleweight champion, who lost the crown to Adesanya in 2019, won that bout by decision.